July 24, 2003
The next day, Rose and Daffodil wandered around Reno, looking for whatever interesting opportunities might come their way. They had made enough money that they weren’t looking specifically for a way to make more, though they weren’t averse to taking an interesting job if one came their way.
It was in mid-afternoon when Daffodil came up with an idea. They were sitting on the curb, drinking cans of soda and watching the tourists, when Daffodil’s eyes lit on a discount store across the street. Finishing her drink, she crushed the can and added it to her trash bag, then stood up.
"I’ll be back in a moment," she told Rose, putting on her fanny pack and checking it to be sure she had some money in it.
"Where are you going?"
"Just over there." She pointed to the store she had been eyeing. "I won’t be long."
"Don’t steal anything," Rose told her sourly.
"I don’t steal!" Daffodil frowned at her. "Get a life."
"Whatever." Rose was tired of bickering with her.
Daffodil flounced off across the street, returning a few minutes later with a plastic shopping bag. "I didn’t steal anything," she told Rose snidely. "Look, I even have the receipt."
"Great. What did you buy?"
Daffodil pulled her purchase out of the bag. "A deck of cards."
"That’ll keep us occupied. What kind of games do you know?"
"Lot’s of them—including poker." She looked at Rose. "Do you know how to play poker?"
"More or less." In high school, Rose, Trudy, and Sophie had played poker when no one was looking, never betting anything except for who had to drive or who had to buy snacks when they went somewhere.
"Good. I have an idea for making some money."
"I think the casinos provide their own cards, Daffodil."
"Not the casinos." She looked at Rose disdainfully. "They probably wouldn’t let you in, anyway. You’re too young."
"So, what’s your plan, then?"
"We set up our own game out here."
"Isn’t that illegal?"
"I don’t know."
"Daffodil, if you get us arrested…"
"It’s perfectly harmless. Nobody’s required to play, and I don’t need to cheat to win. I’m good at this."
"Bully for you. I’m only average."
"And a lot of players are below average."
"And then there’s those who have some skill. Daffodil, we don’t have the money to lose."
"We don’t have it to win, either." She put her hand out as though she were about to make a speech. "When you got nothin’, you got nothin’ to lose."
Rose’s conscience screamed that this wasn’t a good idea, but her adventurous side didn’t listen. "All right. I’m in. But if we wind up wandering all over Reno again, picking up trash to recycle, I swear I’m going to kill you."
*****
Daffodil and Rose set up their poker game on a faintly lit side street, away from the major casinos but close to the cheapest hotels. With very little effort, they got several adventurous gamblers to join their game.
Things went well at first—they won enough to break even—but soon Daffodil’s boasted-of skill proved to be less than she had claimed. She and Rose sat across the makeshift table from their opponents, two men from Europe, one of whom was highly skilled and the other of whom hardly knew what he was doing.
Rose leaned over to Daffodil, scowling. "You are a royal idiot," she whispered. "You bet all of our money."
Daffodil just shrugged. "Like I said, when you got nothin’, you got nothin’ to lose."
"Remember that when we’re scrounging for change and digging through the trash for food."
Their opponents tossed another twenty into the pile in the center of the table. Daffodil dealt the next hand. After some exchanging and shuffling of cards, she looked up from her hand, her face carefully blank. "Okay, let’s see what we’ve got."
Rose and the less-skilled European tourist had nothing. Rose glared at Daffodil as she turned to the other player, looking at the hand he set down.
"Hmm…two pair. Rats. I’m sorry, everyone."
Rose hissed at her. "Daffodil, you moron…"
Daffodil tossed down her cards. "Full house! You see, Rose? You should have trusted me."
The two men who had been playing poker stared at them in disbelief. "You cheated!"
"I did not! You’re just not very skilled!"
"Daffodil…" Rose hissed, tugging on her friend’s sleeve. "Shut up…"
"You wanna play another round? Try to win your money back?"
Before the men had a chance to reply, a police car, lights flashing, turned onto the side street. Rose looked up, grabbing Daffodil’s arm. "I think we’ve been reported!"
"Shit!" Daffodil leaned across the table, scooping the money into her bag. "Help me here!"
One of the men tried to stop them, but Daffodil shoved him aside, knocking over the table as she scooped up the last of the change.
"Run!" She gave Rose a shove. "Let’s get out of here."
Rose raced along behind Daffodil as they darted around a corner, her shorter legs making it hard to keep up.
"You idiot! I told you this was a bad idea, but no, you wouldn’t listen!"
"I didn’t think we’d get caught! I didn’t get caught last time!"
"I guess your luck ran out!"
"We’ve doubled our money!"
"And we’re about to get arrested. Of the stupid, idiotic things you could come up with—"
"Shut up!"
"You don’t have to worry about being arrested or being caught by an angry loser! I’m going to kill you myself!"
"Stop complaining and run!" They saw another car approaching and raced around another corner, only to find themselves in a blind alley.
"Now what?" Rose exclaimed, catching up with Daffodil at the chain link fence at the end of the alley.
"Here!" Daffodil pulled herself up on the fence. "We climb."
Rose followed her, slipping once and nearly falling. "If they catch us, I’m going to squeal. I swear it!"
"Come on! There’s a bus stopping right up this way."
Rose jumped off the fence, coming down hard on the ankle she had injured in May, and cursed. Before she could stop, though, Daffodil grabbed her by the arm, pulling her along.
"Ow! Shit! I hurt myself!"
"You’ll be hurting a lot worse if they catch you!"
Rose turned her head to see the sore losers following them. "Dammit!"
"Just run!"
They caught up to the bus as it was closing its door. "Wait! Let us on!"
Reluctantly, the bus driver let them on, letting them sit down as they dug out the necessary fare.
"Where is this bus going?" Daffodil gasped, paying the fare.
The bus driver looked at them oddly. "Carson City," he said, before pulling away.
"Good enough."
Rose and Daffodil made their way to the middle of the bus, throwing themselves into an empty seat and watching as the bus pulled away, leaving their pursuers behind. They had eluded the police when they had climbed the fence, but their fellow poker players watched in fury as the bus pulled away with them on it.
Daffodil looked out the window, seeing them catch sight of her. Grinning impudently, she raised a stiff middle finger as the bus drove away into the night.